Latest news with #Issac
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Alleged squatter turns himself in after Channel 2 investigation
An alleged squatter is behind bars on a probation violation charge less than 24 hours after a Channel 2 Action News investigation shared the DeKalb County homeowners' struggles. On Thursday, Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Ashli Lincoln shared the story of a family fighting to get their childhood home back after they say squatters moved in the day after their father died. One of those alleged squatters, Dontarious Issac, turned himself in to DeKalb County police on Friday afternoon. 'Ashli, we are so excited. One of the things that annoys me is a criminal that thinks he is smarter than everybody else,' said Lisa Oliver-Heath. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Lincoln spoke with Lisa Oliver-Heath over the phone Friday after learning about Issac's arrest. She and four of her siblings inherited this home from their late parents. In an incident report, Issac first told police he owned the home, but changed his story, saying he had a lease under a rental contract after putting down $4,500. 'My father would be turning over in his urn,' Lisa told Lincoln. Since moving in, the squatters have taken to social media to advertise a large pool party. Lincoln spoke with Issac on Thursday. At the time of that interview, he was apparently in violation of a Greene County probation order. MORE FROM 2 INVESTIGATES: STORY 1 STORY 2 STORY 3 In 2024, Issac was charged after using a drone to deliver contraband to inmates in Georgia prisons. He was sentenced to serve five years. He received credit for time served for 180 of those days. Some of the conditions for his probation include not being around drugs, alcohol, or weapons. The Olivers say some of the squatters approached them with weapons. 'That person came to the door with a rifle,' Kevin Oliver said. Issac was also supposed to let his probation officer know that his address had changed. Documents list a Marietta apartment complex as his last known address. Dekalb County confirmed with Channel 2 Action News that Issac is currently in the Greene County Jail. On Thursday afternoon, Channel 2 Action News was the only station there when three sheriff's deputies arrived at the house and spoke with the man behind the social media post. Under the Squatter Reform Act, the Olivers filed a squatters affidavit. The act was recently passed, allowing law enforcement to cite suspected squatters criminally for trespassing. A DeKalb County incident report reveals the alleged squatters were cited in this case. Lincoln learned that several of the squatters at this property have criminal records, specifically crimes related to squatting. The alleged squatters have until Monday to answer to this affidavit. There will be a court day next week on the matter. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Shadow Force Movie Review: A bland action thriller that fizzles despite a promising set up
Story: Kyrah and Issac, former elite operatives turned lovers, go on the run with their son after their old team puts a bounty on their heads. Hunted by their ex-boss Jack Cinder, they must fight to protect their family and confront their past. Review: 'Shadow Force' is a film that feels all too familiar, offering little new within its overdone premise. It's a standard action thriller that doesn't bother to break any molds. The plot takes too many liberties, never properly explaining key elements, and leaves the audience to fill in the gaps. While the action sequences may keep you engaged momentarily, the film quickly loses its grip, leaving you indifferent to what's happening on screen. Despite the high stakes and potential for a gripping story, the lack of depth makes it a forgettable experience. The plot centers on Kyrah Owens (Kerry Washington) and Issac Saar (Omar Sy), two former elite operatives who worked for a covert unit called Shadow Force. When they fall in love and have a child, they decide to leave their violent world behind to protect their son. However, their past catches up with them when Isaac's identity is revealed while saving their son during a bank robbery. Once their former boss, Jack Cinder (Mark Strong), discovers they are alive, he places a bounty on their heads and sends a team of skilled assassins to kill them. The couple, forced to go on the run, must rely on their instincts and combat skills to survive. From Mexico to Spain to Bolivia, the action-packed journey unfolds with high-speed chases and near-death encounters. The film suffers from a lack of clarity, particularly when it comes to its central premise. The audience is never truly given an understanding of what Shadow Force is or what Kyrah and Isaac have been doing before the events of the film. If their crime is simply falling in love and wanting to raise a family, it feels like a flimsy excuse for a plot. While the action sequences are thrilling, the narrative leaves much to be desired. The few moments of warmth, especially between Kyrah, Issac, and their son Ky, bring a brief sense of emotional connection. Issac's use of French adds an interesting layer to his character, giving a natural, authentic feel to the portrayal, but these moments are overshadowed by a confusing and shallow storyline. Kerry Washington's performance is a major letdown, especially when compared to her past work. Her portrayal feels uninspired and flat, lacking the depth and intensity needed for such a high-stakes role. It's hard to believe this is the same actress who delivered a brilliant performance in her previous film 'The Six Triple Eight.' Mark Strong, on the other hand, brings a sense of menace and gravitas to the character of Jack Cinder, proving to be a strong presence in his role as the antagonist. But it's Omar Sy who stands out in this film. Despite being French, Sy is perfectly at ease in an English-language film, delivering a performance that balances both toughness and warmth effortlessly. His character feels real, and his natural charisma elevates the film, making him the one redeeming aspect. 'Shadow Force' never fully capitalizes on the potential its premise offers. It stays on the surface level, failing to dive deeper into its characters or plot. While it delivers on action, it never goes the extra mile, and in the end, it remains a forgettable, average film.
Indian Express
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Shadow Force movie review: Kerry Washington, Omar Sy-starrer is a run-of-the-mill affair
Shadow Force movie review: Mark Strong has spent a career at the movies playing slick bad guys in some form or another. Rarely has he been called upon to do more – including getting shot again and again, only to get up and do it one more time. That's only part of the miracle about his villainous turn as Jack Cinder. Rarely has anyone coveted a position at G7 so strongly – nor they might again. An ex-CIA chief still proud of his bag of dirty tricks, Cinder goes about correcting everyone who meets him that he is now the 'general secretary' of G7. Apart from one meeting where he puts presumably the head of the United States in his place by calling him an armchair nobody, Cinder doesn't have to put in much office time. Instead, in sharply tailored suits, swilling the choicest whiskeys, Cinder jets about from private mansions in Miami to private islands in Bogota. Enough about him. For as much as Strong is hard to forget – in a bad way – Shadow Force is about Issac (Sy) and Kyrah (Washington). Once Cinder's star recruits in the secretive grey unit he put together called Shadow Force, doing 'God's dirty work' no less, Issac and Kyrah did the unthinkable by falling in love and having a son. Cinder would have none of it, and hence Kyrah and Issac must remain apart and raise Ky (Kamara) in secrecy – till Cinder finds out, of course. The storyline then is Issac, Kyrah and Ky (joined together by love and Lionel Richie) versus Cinder and the rest of his blood-thirsty Shadow Force bunch. The initial scenes between Ky and Issac are moving and promise a movie that would have been, if not interesting, at least not this run-of-the-mill. Sy, a charismatic French actor and the star of the OTT show Lupin, is gentle, mysterious and a pleasure to watch. The fact that he seamlessly slips into French while horsing about with the much-too-unruffled Ky doesn't hurt. Also Read | Bad Boy review: A grittier, more gruesome companion piece to Adolescence; Netflix's teen drama is a brutal coming-of-age tale In contrast, Washington brings all her pillowy-lipped, dewy-eyed, hangdog demeanour to Kyrah, not really the femme fatale she is going for – that bustier-and-heels look is a call for help. Her and Issac's bickering is a pitiable shot at doing a Mrs and Mrs Smith, which clearly filmmaker Joe Carnaghan too realises, moving quickly away every time they get into friendly ribbing or bickering. Who is Randolph, an Oscar-winning actress, supposed to be playing, and why? There are no easy answers to that. Shadow Force movie director: Joe Carnahan Shadow Force movie cast: Kerry Washington, Omar Sy, Mark Strong, Jahleel Kamara, Da'Vine Joy Randolph Shadow Force movie rating: 1.5 stars
Forbes
29-03-2025
- Forbes
Google Pixel 9a Interview: How New Photo Tools Define The Latest Pixel Phone
Google's Pixel 9a Google has confirmed a launch date of April 10 for the Pixel 9a in the US, UK and Canada. The mid-range smartphone follows in the footsteps of the critically acclaimed Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 Pro XL. It also follows the lineage of the Pixel 6a, 7a and 8a, The Pixel 9a brings with it a new look, building on the knowledge and hardware of the more advanced models, yet has to be tailored to a more casual consumer. I sat down with Google's Group Product Manager Isaac Reynolds to discuss the latest family addition. The first thing that avid Pixel watchers will spot is the lack of the camera bar across the rear. While this was tweaked in the Pixel 9 to be more rounded and isolated, it became a substantial part of the Pixel brand. It's now been replaced with something that stands out in the market. It's moved to a completely flat rear case. "This is the first shift of the platform in a long time,' Issac tells me. 'A few interesting things are hidden beneath the new flat design. One of those is the biggest battery we've ever put in an A series; it has 25 percent better battery life than the Pixel 8a." That's to be expected, given the Pixel 8a boosted the battery endurance time to more than eleven hours compared to the Pixel 7a's ten hours. This 25 percent jump suggests close to fourteen hours of mixed-use from the new handset, although we'll need to wait for independent reviews to measure the real-world use after the 9a launches. Google remains 'all-in' on establishing artificial intelligence as part of the mobile experience, so it will come as no surprise that Gemini AI is part of the Pixel 9a package, including the latest addition of Gemini Live with Video. 'When you buy a 9a, you're going to be one of those first in line to get the latest Gemini features from Google, as you'd expect with any Pixel phone." The biggest indicator of the Pixel 9a's place in the portfolio comes with one of the camera features being Macro Focus. Crucially, this uses the main camera lens rather than the ultrawide lens or a dedicated macro lens used by other smartphones from several manufacturers. Why include this in the Pixel 9a? Is macro back in fashion? "I don't think macro goes out of fashion,' Issac counters. 'The simple desire to take a picture from four to six inches away has always been there, and people are just pressing the wrong feature into use. 'You can use portrait mode to take pictures of people. Yet In a restaurant, I will see this happen, where people look at their food hungrily, but then they go, 'Wait, I need to get my portrait mode for my food.'" 'They're about six or eight inches away. And they've added that bokeh of the background blur. That's what Macro Focus does. The use case has always been there; people have been pressing Portrait Mode into service for this use case, which isn't really the right one, and there are limits on the distances." These aren't grand staged pictures; they are fast moments that live briefly on social media as the ephemera of modern life. Yet the clichéd view of social media as a place of 'pictures of food' is a cliché because it is so popular and increases digital engagement (Digital Engagement on Social Media). The fast moments have driven many choices in the Pixel 9a, as illustrated in the Camera app's user interface across the whole Pixel range. 'We've aired on the side of less complex cameras across the whole lineup. When you go into the Pixel 9 Pro, you find all the same patterns, designs, looks and feel. It's just that every menu has a little bit more in it. You open the options, and maybe it's six things, not three things. Maybe the controls panel is eight things, not two things." Yet the Pixel 9a has fewer options than the 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL. Again, that's designed to help keep the idea of 'casual snaps' as part of the 9a's look and feel. "I don't care if you are capable of hiking out into the country to find your one beautiful scenery and wait for four hours. When you're out at the birthday party with your kid and all your friends around, you don't want to be stuck behind the camera; you want to be participating. You're still going to 'get in, click the button, get out.' There is a different flavor to the two strands of Pixel coming through my time with Issac; the Pixel 9a and Pixel 9 are more casual smartphones than the Pixel 9 Pro and the Pixel 9 Pro XL, living up to the 'professional' tag. They all have the same starting point in terms of research and development—be it core silicon such as the Tensor Mobile chipsets, the software built around Gemini AI, or the choices made in the hardware for displays, batteries, and cameras—but the decisions differ on what to offer in each handset. "The Pixel 9a isn't about pushing the cutting edge. It's about offering the most affordable entry point to this premium product, with just the essentials—like good battery, seven years of security and safety feature updates, and a camera for snapshots and casual photos." "Those customers don't need a professional tool. Overwhelmingly, the upgrade is "I want to take better snapshots." There are still questions that the Pixel 9a needs to answer: Is that upgrade sentiment going to be evident to consumers? Will Gemini AI run as smoothly as other Pixels in the smaller memory of the Pixel 9a? Can it find an audience when it is so close in price to the Pixel 9? These questions will have to wait for the reviews that will arrive shortly after 9a goes on sale. Now read more about the Pixel 9a, Google's Android plans, and more smartphone news in Forbes' weekly news digest for mobiles…
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
State senator honors 4 Louisiana National Guard members killed in helicopter crash
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — On the steps of the Louisiana State Capitol, a state senator honored the four Louisiana National Guardsmen who died 10 years ago in a Florida helicopter crash. Sen. Rick Edmonds presented a commemorative flag to family members and those who served with the men in honor of Chief Warrant Officer 4 George Wayne Griffin Jr., Chief Warrant Officer 4 George David Strother, Staff Sgt. Lance Bergeron and Staff Sgt. Thomas Florich. Seven Marines were also aboard the flight and killed in the crash. The four were killed when their Black Hawk crashed during a training exercise. There were reports of heavy fog at the time of the crash. A 10-year anniversary ceremony is being held in Florida the same day to remember all of the men lost. Edmonds invited Sgt. Dylan David, who served with the men, to say a few words about them in celebration and mourning. 'I felt we needed to do something like this because as I go to drill week in and week out, I realized that the number of people that I share a room with that knew these men personally is diminishing rapidly,' David said. Griffin, of Delhi, had been deployed to Iraq twice and joined the Louisiana National Guard in 1994. Strother, of Alexandria, has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and joined the National Guard from 1988-2007 and again in 2009. Bergeron, of Thibodaux, had been deployed to Iraq twice as a Marine and joined the National Guard in 2001. Florich, of Fairfax County, Virginia, joined the Louisiana National Guard in 2007. All left behind wives and children. 'It will be an everlasting reminder that Louisianians don't forget our heroes. We don't take out some other opinion or some other pathway. But we have governors like Gov. Landry and other leaders that remind us on a day to day basis that freedom is not free,' state Sen. Rick Edmonds said. All four of them had served the state in their positions by responding to the BP oil spill and Hurricanes Katrina, Issac and Rita. Edmonds said that with the support of Landry, they were able to take the moment out of the day to dedicate March 10 as an official day in honor of the four men. Congress honors 13 troops killed during Kabul withdrawal as politics swirl around blame White Castle High School student stabbed on campus State senator honors 4 Louisiana National Guard members killed in helicopter crash Republicans plan to vote on funding bill UCLA and South Carolina are 1-2 in women's AP Top 25 VA secretary: Cutting 80,000 jobs 'is our target' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
